Slicing machine



Sept '4, 1934- T. H. sTRAcHAN Er Al. 1,972,250

SLICING MACHINE Filed sept. 25, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l I OQINVENTOR' BY 'AWoRNYy Sept 4, 1934. T. H. sTRAcHAN Er AL SLICING" MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 25. 1931 1 JIHHNIHHIZS Jlmilullmh eff@ lNvNTo BY@ ATTORNEY y Patented Sept. 4, 1934 sLIoING- MacmN-lr. y Thomas H.. Strachan and Williainf,Hv I fryer;` DaytomLOIiio, a'ssigno'rs, .by mesne assignments,

to International BusinessMacli'nes Corporation; NewYork; N.`;Y., a corporation ofNeW i York f' Appiicationsepmber. 25, 1931lseria1ivo. I565,090

` zelauns. (01.146-102') This invention relates to slicing: machines in general, particularly' to machinesused to slice articles of food such as meat, bread, cheese, and

like: materials..

The: generalobjectt of the-invention is to provide an: improved arrangement for varying thefeed pressurev of thelmaterial sliced whereby different kinds of materialsmay be fed to the knife at pressures best suited. to the physical characteristicsof' the material tov be sliced;

It iscustomary` toA provide slicing machines withea clamp mounted. in. a clamp carrier fed.

transverselyl of the'knife and adapted to press the, materialitobesliced against a suitable gauge plate which governs the thickness of thev slices.

The clamp carrier. isY usually: slidably mounted in a; carriage movable parallel withY the knife during slicing; operations andA itv is` common practice tov provide. means for' automatically` feeding theV clampcarrier` toward the gauge' plate. form of machine at present manufactured utilizes a spring actuated drum to effect they necessary automatic feedstowardthe gauge plate, thespring drumv being concealed. in the baseof the clampv carrierand connectedf by aexible tape to a fixed-y part of the carriage. so: that the springv drum tends always tolfeed; the clampcarrier toward the gaugeplate.. f Y

An objectionable feature=ofa constructionssuch as theforegoingristhe fact thatall materials are fedrto'thef'gauge plate with th'ezsame pressure and: some materials" are pressed against theY gaugev platefwith: too: much; pressure owing to thefact that it, is necessaryto` adjust thetension of the spring, drum during assembly'to give the maxi-tv mumA feed pressurezused.y withi meatsor like rela.-y tively dense rm materials. As a result bread;

a study thereof and of the accompanying draw ings.

In thee drawings.:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the slicingmachine.

One

the material to be- Figure 2v isafront View.` of the carriage andV clamp. carrier with* the`- foodi pan removed.'

Figure 3 is a vertical section on the lineA 3---3= in Figure 2. n

Figure 4 is a vertical section on the line 4 4 inFigure 2.

This invention Vis an improvement in the con-V struction of the machine illustrated and. described in application Serial Noi 496,376, filed November 18; 1930 by H Fryer, however, it is obvious that it Vmay be applied to other machinesas well andV it not desired tolimitapplication of the invention to the specic machine described in said application.

lI-heinumeral lflreferstothe base of the slicing machine upon which is` rotatablyv mounted the knife 1.1. andfcarr'iesa gauge'pl'ate' l2 which-:mayl be'adjusted to regulate the thickness of the slices. The material to-be 'siicedishel'd betweena movable clamp element 13' and ai'xed clamp element 141, both carried by4 the cla-mp` carrier4` 15 which isslidably mounted on across bar l6`- supported on the carriage ll'".k The latter-is slidably mounted upon a rail 1`8` supported on J posts 1.9 carriedby the basel and is. providedl with a handle 20 by means of.` which` the carriage may be moved parallel with the knife to slice material held between the clamp-elements 13, 14. There is provided the usuallfoodfpan 21` attached tothe carriage -l'7-.

rLhe clamp element 13Vl is provided withf prongs projecting downwardly andi adapted to cooperate with -similar prongs in clamp element l@ tov en able saidi elements to rmly grip thematerial' toY be sliced. portion off the cl'ampelement 13 is bent upwardlyand-substantially parallel with the y gauge plate l2. and' is also'provided with prongs similar to those in the element lflfor-the purpose of holding impaled thereonpeces'which are too thin to bey heldi between the element 14 and the other portion of element 13 so that said pieces may be pressedtoward the gauge plate inrfeeding themftorthe` knife. v

The element l-3-is carried by a verticallyslid` able member 22guided in an opening in the upper end! ofi they clamp" carrierv 125 :and: provided with a knob cr handle-23lby means off'which the clamp element' 13 may be raisedtolplacethe article'to be sliced; between element 13', v11i.

The member. 22`i'sf notched as at 24' and these' not'chescooperatewith at'oethf inthegend of aspring:Y pressedplunger 25- carried' by the member 22. When Aan article of food has been=placed-be tween; the; clamp:- elementsI 1:3;1 I4 the handleI 23 may belpressed. downwardly to apply pressure tof' the article to be sliced and during such downward lie;

`toward the gauge plate vby means of a spring The drum 26 mounted in the base of said carrier. spring drum26 is provided with a spiral spring 27 one end of which isrconnected to the said drum while the other end is connected to a stud carried by a bracket 28' fixed to tlie'fclamp carrier 15 at the base thereof. A tape 23fhasone` end thereof Xed to the periphery of the drum`i`26. andthe other end of said tape is X'ed to the periphery ofv a smaller drum 30 fast on a rotatable stud 31 journalled in the frame of the carriageatthe end nearest 'the knife 11. t will thus be seen from Fig. 2 that, assuming the end of the tape nearest the knife to bexed. the clamp carrier 15 will bev drawn towards the gauge plate with a pressure which will alwaysbe the same regardless kof the material to be sliced.

One of the features of this invention is the provision of means whereby the tension on the tape 29 may be variedto suit different materials to be sliced so that each material maybe fed towards the gauge plate withapressure suitable to the characteristics ofthe material and for this reason the drum 30 is made rotatable by increments sufiicient to increase the tension in tape 29 to the desired value.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the drum 30 is rotatu f: ably mounted on the bar 16 and is provided with teeth 32 cooperating with a pawl 33 `mounted on the bar 16. A Thepawl 33 is Xed to the end of a knurled member .34 pivotally mounted on the bar r16 and is pressed into Contact with the teeth f toward the gauge plate with an increased pressure. The drum 30 may be very easily turned by means of a screw stud 36 screwed tightly ,into the stud 31 and also serving tohold stud 31 in bar 16; By inserting a screw driver. in the slot ofstud 36 the stud, 31 may be readily turned to wind up the tape 29. It will be obvious that rctatingthe drum 36 in this fashionv .will cause the pawl 33 to drop intothe teeth 32 of the stud 31 and prevent un". winding the tape 29-from the drum 3l) due to the tension of springz27.

Any number of teeth may be provided inthe stud 31 within the limits of the amountthetape 29 may be unwound from the drum 26. When the drum 36 has been turned to secure maximum tension in the tape 29 and it is desired to use a lighter feed pressure, it is merely `necessary. to insert a screw driver inthe slot of the screw stud 36 and then, after turning the knurled thumb-piece 34 to release the pawl 33 from the teeth 32 of the stud 31, permit drum 30 toturn under the tension applied by the vtape 29 until the desired feed pressure isobtained. v

As a matter of convenience in determining the properfeed pressureto be usedv the bar 16 may have a graduated dial adjacent thestud 36 and a suitable mark provided in said stud cooperating with said dial to indicate the desired feed pressure. l

In the construction described in the aforesaid application thespring drum 26 and its tensioning spring 27 are concealed in the base of the carrier 15 in front of the bar 16 and behind the food pan. 21 so that access may not be readily had thereto to adjust the tension of the spring and it is impossible to apply ordinary methods of tensioning spring drums since the bar 16 prevents `accessto said `drum from the rear and the clamp element 14 andfood pan 21 prevents access thereto from' the frame. The stud 36 located in the rear surface oflbar 16 is readily accessible,

however, and may be turned as described by means "cfa suitable screw driver or screw driver key. If desired, of course, the stud 36 may be squared to receive a suitable key or the key may be' integral Awithrsaid stud, however, the slotted screw 36 will undoubtedlyfbe amply-sufiicient for.

in its movements lengthwise of the bar L16 by striking the frame of the carriage 17 adjacent the points where the bar 16 is fixed to saidframe.

The embodiment of the invention shownin the drawings and described hereinbelo're` is `purely illustrative of the form which. the invention mayl'.

take in practice and it is 'not desiredto limit the scope ofthe invention to ksuch embodiment as variations vand modifications may be introduced to suit various conditions of practiceor the different machines to whichthe inventionmay be em- .l'?

bodied. 1-

-We claim: f y

1.- A slicing machine having a knife yand a' carriage movableparallel therewith. to slice an article on/the1carriage; `clamping 'means for said Il article mounted for movement in said carriage in a direction transversely of theplane of the knife to feed the article to the knife; and feeding means for automatic feed-of the clamping means, comprisingfa spring actuated drum concealed in the l clamping means, and a tensioning devicefor said spring drum mounted in the carriage, said tensioningdevice including a drum connected tothe spring. actuated-A` drum and manuallyV rotatable to vary V.the tension:offthewlatterrin accordance with thephysical characteristicsn of the articlefto be sliced..` 1 y2. A slicing.. machinehaving a..knife and a clampingdevice'.forcholdingy thefarticle. to. be` sliced, means -for automatically feeding said clamping device to the knife comprising a spring actuated `drum carried by the clamping device, an` adjustable tensioning drum rotatably mounted on said means separately from the clamping device,fa tape` connecting saiddrumsgmeans integral Withqtheutensioning drumfor rotating the latter ina direction to vary the tension of said tape wherebyr to vary the feedpressureof the clamping device, and manually releasable means tion.;

A WILLIAM H. FRYER-- THOMAS H. STRACHAN. i 

